Professor Christoph ThiemermannCentre Lead, Translational Medicine and TherapeuticsCentre: Translational Medicine and TherapeuticsEmail: c.thiemermann@qmul.ac.ukTelephone: +44(0) 20 7882 2107ProfileResearchKey PublicationsSponsorsCollaboratorsProfile Chris Thiemermann is Professor of Pharmacology and Centre Lead for Translational Medicine & Therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI). Education He graduated with honours in Medicine (1986), obtained his MD in Medicine (1987, summa cum laude) from the University in Cologne in Germany (awarded University Prize 1987 for ’Best Doctorate Degree of all Faculties of the University of Cologne’) and received consecutive Fellowships from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Thyssen Foundation (Germany). He joined the WHRI in July 1987, where he obtained a PhD in Pharmacology under the supervision of The Nobel Laureate Sir John Vane in 1991. Research Thiemermann is an internationally recognised expert in pathophysiology and experimental therapy of shock and ischaemia-reperfusion injury with expertise in target discovery and evaluation of the efficacy of drugs in small animal models. Recent translational successes include a phase II RCTs evaluating the effects of pentoxiphylline in patients with chronic kidney disease (on dialysis) and the repurposing of the antimalarial drug artesunate for patients with severe haemorrhage and organ failure. His research was recognised the Sandoz Prize (British Pharmacological Society 1994), Young Investigator Award of the Surgical Infection Society Europe (1999), the Menarini-Award for CV Research (2001) and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018). He has published more than 470 scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals (listed in PubMed; with 770 publications listed by ResearchGate), which have been cited more than 36,000-times (h-index: 99; i10-index: 365). According to Google Scholar, he is one of the 10 most cited researchers in the world working on translational medicine, and one of the 50 most-cited pharmacologists. Teaching He is an active educator and many of his past PhD-students and post-doctoral fellows have gone on to develop their own successful careers in medicine, science or commerce. Together with Prof Mauro Perretti, he has developed and leads the Module ‘Business in Pharmacology’, which is part of the BSc degree in Pharmacology and Innovative Therapeutics offered by QMUL and offers students an insight into the world of drug discovery and development as well as the world of regulatory affairs. Funding Over the years, Thiemermann’s research has been generously supported by the British Heart Foundation (Senior Fellow from 1996 to 2001), The Wellcome Trust, British Pharmacological Society, the European Union, the Medical Research Council, Kidney Research UK and William Harvey Research Foundation, Barts and the London Charity (BLC), BBSRC and the National Institute for Health Research and Care Research (NIHR). Leadership Roles He is currently Deputy Director of the Centre for Diabetic Kidney Disease and a co-PI in the Centre for Trauma Sciences at the Royal London Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the United Kingdom, a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society, a Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of Portugal (Lisboa), a Chair of the Post-Doctoral Fellowships Committee of the NIHR, Past-President of the European Shock Society (presidency 2008-2011), Member of the Executive Council of the World Federation of Shock Societies, Associate Editor of the Journal Frontiers in Immunology. He is also the Chief Executive Officer (since 2003) of William Harvey Research Limited, a not-for-profit company that organises scientific conferences, contract research and clinical fellowships and works closely with its parent charity, The William Harvey Research Foundation. Contact Translational Medicine and TherapeuticsMs Phionah Mondo, Centre AdministratorTel: +44(0) 20 7882 2107Email: p.mondo@qmul.ac.uk William Harvey Research LimitedMrs Amanda Craddock. Programmes ManagerTel: +44(0) 20 7882 8110Email: a.craddock@qmul.ac.uk ResearchGroup members PD Dr Lukas Martin, Dr Gareth Purves, Dr Sura Al-Zoubi, Dr Noriaki Yamada, Miss Caroline O’Riordan, Mrs Shireen Mohammad, Miss Nikita Patel Summary The Thiemermann lab has a long-standing research interest in the pathophysiology and therapy (preclinical and clinical) of (i) ischaemia-reperfusion of the heart (acute myocardial infarction, non-STEMI) and kidney (acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, renal fibrosis), and (ii) shock of various aetiologies (septic shock, trauma-haemorrhage) and the associated systemic inflammation and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Over the years, the lab has identified several, new drug-able targets including inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), peroxisome-proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) and Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK), to name but a few. We have also developed and evaluated the efficacy of numerous, novel interventions for shock and ischaemia-reperfusion injury (including iNOS-inhibitors, PARP-inhibitors, radical scavengers, PPAR-ligands, erythropoietin and BTK-inhibitors). Recent translational successes include phase II placebo-controlled randomised clinical trials (RCT) aimed at (a) evaluating the effects of pentoxiphylline in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis (together with Prof Magdi Yaqoob, Centre for Diabetic Kidney Disease) and (b) the repurposing of the antimalarial drug artesunate for patients with severe haemorrhage and organ failure (together with Prof Karim Brohi, Centre for Trauma Sciences). A phase IIa RCT evaluating the effects of artesunate in patients 105 with severe blood loss caused by trauma (code red) is jointly funded by the Welcome Trust and the Department of Health is currently ongoing. Key PublicationsSELECTED RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS * Denotes equal contribution Thiemermann C, Szabó C, Mitchell JA, Vane JR. Vascular hyporeactivity to vasoconstrictor agents and hemodynamic decompensation in hemorrhagic shock is mediated by nitric oxide. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1993 Jan 1;90(1):267-71. (awarded Sandoz Prize of the BPS) Byrne CJ, McCafferty K, Kieswich J, Harwood S, Andrikopoulos P, Raftery M, Thiemermann C*, Yaqoob MM*. Ischemic conditioning protects the uremic heart in a rodent model of myocardial infarction. Circulation. 2012 Mar 13;125(10):1256-65. Kapoor A, Shintani Y, Collino M, Osuchowski MF, Busch D, Patel NS, Sepodes B, Castiglia S, Fantozzi R, Bishop-Bailey D, Mota-Filipe H, Yaqoob MM, Suzuki K, Bahrami S, Desvergne B, Mitchell JA, Thiemermann C. Protective role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-β/δ in septic shock. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Dec 15;182(12):1506-15. Gobbetti T, Coldewey SM, Chen J, McArthur S, le Faouder P, Cenac N, Flower RJ, Thiemermann C, Perretti M. Nonredundant protective properties of FPR2/ALX in polymicrobial murine sepsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Dec 30;111(52):18685-90. Sordi R, Chiazza F, Johnson FL, Patel NS, Brohi K, Collino M, Thiemermann C. Inhibition of IκB Kinase Attenuates the Organ Injury and Dysfunction Associated with Hemorrhagic Shock. Mol Med. 2015 Jun 18;21:563-75. Coldewey SM, Benetti E, Collino M, Pfeilschifter J, Sponholz C, Bauer M, Huwiler A, Thiemermann C. Elevation of serum sphingosine-1-phosphate attenuates impaired cardiac function in experimental sepsis. Sci Rep. 2016 Jun 9;6:27594. Chen J, Kieswich JE, Chiazza F, Moyes AJ, Gobbetti T, Purvis GS, Salvatori DC, Patel NS, Perretti M, Hobbs AJ, Collino M, Yaqoob MM, Thiemermann C. IκB Kinase Inhibitor Attenuates Sepsis-Induced Cardiac Dysfunction in CKD. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2017 Jan;28(1):94-105. Martin L, Gombert A, Chen J, Liebens J, Verleger J, Kalder J, Marx G, Jacobs M, Thiemermann C, Schuerholz T. The β-d-Endoglucuronidase Heparanase Is a Danger Molecule That Drives Systemic Inflammation and Correlates with Clinical Course after Open and Endovascular Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Lessons Learnt from Mice and Men. Front Immunol. 2017 Jun 12;8:681. Tremoleda JL, Watts SA, Reynolds PS, Thiemermann C, Brohi K. Modelling Acute Traumatic Haemorrhagic Shock Injury: Challenges and Guidelines for Preclinical Studies. 2017 May 15. [Epub ahead of print] Yamada N, Martin LB, Zechendorf E, Purvis GS, Chiazza F, Varrone B, Collino M, Shepherd J, Heinbockel L, Gutsmann T, Correa W, Brandenburg K, Marx G, Schuerholz T, Brohi K, Thiemermann C. Novel Synthetic, Host-defense Peptide Protects Against Organ Injury/Dysfunction in a Rat Model of Severe Hemorrhagic Shock. Ann Surg. 2017 Mar 10. [Epub ahead of print] Sordi R, Nandra KK, Chiazza F, Johnson FL, Cabrera CP, Torrance HD, Yamada N, Patel NS, Barnes MR, Brohi K, Collino M, Thiemermann C. Artesunate Protects Against the Organ Injury and Dysfunction Induced by Severe Hemorrhage and Resuscitation. Ann Surg. 2017 Feb;265(2):408-417. Purvis GSD, Chiazza F, Chen J, Azevedo-Loiola R, Martin L, Kusters DHM, Reutlingsberger C, Founntoulakis N, Gnudi L, Yaqoob MM, Collino M, Thiemermann C*, Solito E*. Annexin A1 attenautes microvascular complications through restoration of Akt signalling in a murine model of type 1 diabetes. Diabetologica 2018, 61:482-495 AndrikopoulosP, Kieswish J, Pacheco S, Nadarajah L, Harwood SM, O’Riordan CE, Thiemermann C, Yaqoob MM. The MEK inhibitor trametinib ameliorates kidney fibrosis by suppressing ERK1/2 and mTORC1 signalling. J Am Soc Nephrol 2019 30:33-49. Zingarelli B, Coopersmith CM, Drechsler S, Efron P, Marshall JC, Moldwer L, Wiersinga WJ, Xiao X, Osuchowski MF, Thiemermann C. Minimum Qulaity threshold in preclinical sepsis studies for study design and humane modelling endpoints. Shock 2019, 51: 10-22 Sordi R, Chiazza F, Colotta D, Magliaretti G, Colas RA, Vulliamy P, Brohi K, Dalli J, Collino M, Thiemermann C. Resolvin D1 Attenuates the Organ Injury Associated With Experimental Hemorrhagic Shock. Ann Surg.2019 Jun 7. [Epub ahead of print] Metrics (June 2019) (see Google Open Scholar for up-to-date information)Publications (listed in Pubmed): 347h-index: 92Citations: > 31,000i10-index: 356Sponsors William Harvey Research Foundation National Institute for Health Research British Pharmacological Society Wellcome Trust Queen Mary University of London British Heart Foundation Medical Research Council Department for Health CollaboratorsWebsite www.williamharveyresearch.com Internal Professor Magdi Yaqoob (WHRI); Professor Karim Brohi (Blizzard Institute and Royal London Hospital); Professor Amrita Ahluwalia (WHRI); Professor Adrian Hobbs (WHRI); Professor Mauro Perretti (WHRI); Professor Sussan Nourshargh (WHRI). NIHR-funded Barts BRU Professor Steffen Petersen (WHRI); Professor Ken Suzuki (WHRI). External Professor Michael Bauer (University of Jena, Germany); Professor Anthony Cerami (University of Leiden, The Netherlands); Prof Massimo Collino (University of Turin, Italy); Professor Andrea Huwiler (University of Bern, Switzerland); Professor Peter Radermacher (University of Ulm, Germany); Professor Fred Wong (National University of Singapore); Prof Gernot Marx (University of Aachen); Dr Sina Coldewey (University of Jena, Germany). Back to top